Dear Barack: Welcome to the Collective Presidency

After the networks called the presidential election at 8:01 PST on Tuesday night, before Barack Obama hit the stage at Grant Park in Chicago, the campaign sent out an email note to all supporters, ostensibly from Obama. It began:

“I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first…..”

The note included the usual campaign thank yous. I couldn’t have done it without you, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Then it said:

“We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.”

It is signed” “Barack.”

That “being in touch” part of the note had just the right we’re-all-in-this-together tone. Obama would be a fool to drop the metaphorical threads that have connected him and his campaign to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers and doners who made his run for the presidency a success. Clearly he means to mobilize those legions in some manner or other at some point in the future.

But, like it or not, relationships are a two-way street. More than nearly any other presidential campaign within living memory, Obama both engendered and courted a sense of personal involvement with him and his message.

So now as he forms his cabinet and sets his agenda, attention to his choices are unusually obsessive and—rightly or wrongly—people from all quarters feel like they ought to have a say.

As a consequence, lists of issues Obama ought to addess, are surfacing from a great many sources.

Today, for example, Nation edtior Katrina vanden Heuvel, has a good list of priorities for Obama’s first 100 days.

And on Sunday NPR began a series they call MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT, which lists the challenges that the NPR editors and reporters most think the new president elect ought to address.

Theirs is a pretty good beginning list. I have a few things that I think they missed, which I’ll be posting about in the next few days. And you likely have some of your own.

Here’s the NPR list to get you thinking:

Here at NPR, we have talked about all of these challenges in varying measure over the course of this campaign year. Now, as you and the new Congress prepare to take office, we wanted to return to each issue in turn and provide a more systematic catalog. So in the weeks ahead, as the transition goes forward, we will air a series of stories addressing these issues.

Here is a representative list of what we will offer, for you and our listeners. And there’ll be more where these came from.

Economic Crisis

A lack of oversight, transparency and accountability in financial markets has brought on the worst crisis in decades. What needs to change for a viable 21st century financial regulatory system to emerge? NPR’s John Ydstie has been following the national economy through three decades when free market philosophy was ascendant.

Collapsing Industries

Congress has approved a $25 billion bailout for America’s troubled automakers. But should the new president be prepared to invest even more in helping to boost a new auto industry tailor-made for the 21st century? NPR’s John McChesney takes a look at the manufacturing problem from a high-tech perspective.

National Security

Nearly the entire George W. Bush presidency has been defined by a focus on homeland security following the Sept. 11 attacks. The new president will have to decide what level of peril the country is in, and whether to keep or change the measures of the Bush administration. NPR’s Pam Fessler has been following homeland security since the department was created in 2002.

Energy Costs

Gas prices may have dipped, but long-term they remain a hot-button issue for the next president. “Energy independence,” off-shore drilling, home heating costs and how to encourage efficiency and renewable energy are some of the things the new president will have to wrestle with in the midst of an economic crisis that will make it hard to shift away from fossil fuels — our cheapest source of power. NPR’s Chris Joyce has been exploring new sources of energy since the earlier outbreak of energy consciousness in the 1970s.

Health Care

Right after economic worries and war, health care has the attention of the public. Availability and cost of care are concerns for all, but 46 million Americans have no insurance at all — and millions of those who do are one serious illness away from financial catastrophe. Meanwhile, the spiraling costs of Medicare and Medicaid are threatening to swamp the federal budget. NPR’s Julie Rovner has been charting the course of this issue since well before the 1994 health care reform came together and fell apart in Congress.

Global Warming

The United States lost its leadership in the international talks on global warming during the Bush administration. The new president will face a difficult deadline working to negotiate a follow-up to the Kyoto climate treaty. The United Nations has agreed to a deadline for negotiating a new pact by the end of next year and many difficult issues remain unresolved. NPR’s Richard Harris has been on the climate change beat since before the second Bush presidency.

Executive Powers

The Bush administration spent two terms working hard to expand the power of the chief executive at the expense of the other two branches of government. The new president will have to decide what approach he’ll take to constitutional checks and balances. NPR’s Nina Totenberg casts a judicious eye on the separation of powers.

Equal Justice

The Justice Department is emerging from what many have called its most tumultuous period in decades. A new attorney general will have to restore the Department’s credibility and work to counter perceptions that law enforcement decisions have become politicized. NPR’s Ari Shapiro witnessed the rise and fall of Alberto Gonzales and the struggle of Michael Mukasey.

Private Contracting

Under the Bush administration, there’s been a “quiet revolution” in the degree to which operations of the federal government have been turned over to private entities. Yet in all this there’s been little attempt to measure how it’s working, or how much it costs. NPR’s Daniel Zwerdling takes the measure of privatization.

Immigration Rules

Efforts to overhaul the immigration laws have dropped off the radar, but the tension continues between people who believe immigrants hurt the job prospects of Americans and those who believe immigrants support the U.S. economy. And some public officials believe this is the moment for compromise on new immigration policies. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden has kept her eye on a situation the presidential campaign ignored almost completely.

Telecommunications

Is America ready for the total transfer to digital TV? Is there a strategy to reach national broadband access? Is the government prepared to lead the way and make decisions that move billions of dollars? There will soon be a vacancy for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and guess who gets to fill it? NPR’s Joel Rose provides a tour of the potential pitfalls.

Space Exploration

The United States is set to retire its aging fleet of space shuttles in 2010. NASA is currently on track to build rockets that could return astronauts to the moon, but they won’t be ready until 2014 or later. The next president could save money by delaying development of that next generation rocket, but that would mean an even longer human spaceflight “gap” with no American space vehicle. But can we afford space when we can’t afford better schools or health insurance for all? NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce notes how the space challenge has changed since John F. Kennedy took office in 1961.

Labor organizing

Democrats won the presidency and other offices with strong support from labor unions. And they are expected to be much more supportive of labor than President Bush. Can a new president deliver for labor in a way that doesn’t harm companies being battered by a severe economic downturn? NPR’s Frank Langfitt specializes in the role of labor in the new economy — and the new politics.

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NOTE: I haven’t a clue how I managed to hit “comments off” on this post earlier this morning. Ghosts in the machine. Thanks to commenter Woody for noting it.